1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a plant for manufacturing and packaging tubes consisting of a tubular body consisting of at least one plastic foil and, connected at one end thereof a shoulder portion with a threaded neck, fitted with a closure cap, the tubes being fed via a conveyor belt to a packaging station, where they are packaged to form larger units.
2. Description of the Related Art
This process is normally performed in two stages. In a first step tubular bodies are manufactured from a laminated foil or from an extruded hose, which are fitted with a shoulder portion comprising a threaded neck and a closure cap. In this case, prior to screwing on the closure means, an originality membrane may be applied to, usually welded onto the withdrawal aperture of the threaded neck. In a second step the tubes manufactured in this manner are then fed, often by means of a conveyor belt, to a packaging machine, where they are packaged to form larger units, and are optionally fed, after further transportation and/or storage, to a filing operation for filling the tubes with a product. After filling, the tubes are closed or sealed at the filling outlet in order to be then once again packaged into larger units for onward transport.
The manufacture and filling of the tubes is performed at a rate of about 80 to 200 tubes/minute, in which context packaging into larger units, in particular in low-wage countries, is performed manually, in which case, at the time of packaging the still empty tubes, visual quality control is performed simultaneously. In particular in countries with high price structures packaging of the still empty tubes, or, as the case may be, even the filled tubes, is done automatically by means of complicated transfer systems—usually into boxes. In this case inspection and/or quality control is performed automatically, which prevents manufactured tubes with defects to be packaged or fed to a filing plant.
During the filling operation the empty tubes are removed from the respective packaging either manually or by gripper means, even multiple grippers and are conveyed to the charging station of a fining machine. From the charging station the tubes normally reach a plurality of stations, e.g. by means of revolving tube holding devices, in which case a filling material is passed through the open end in one station or, optionally, even further stations, each filled tube being closed, e.g. welded, at the filling outlet, causing the filled product to be sealed hermetically in the tube. The filled and sealed tubes are subsequently removed manually or automatically from the filling machine and are optionally passed on to an end consumer in repackaged forum
This type of manufacture and packaging provides a certain flexibility at the filling site, but suffers from a number of drawbacks, which are to be seen, on the one hand, in the complicated logistics and transfer technology, in the risk of the packaged, empty tubes collecting dust and dirt, inter alia by frequent contact with the transfer devices, the very often required disposal of the packaging containers used, mainly cardboard boxes, and the required storage, necessitating dead capital on the one hand, and causing increased transport costs on the other.